Ideals
by MTStarCosmic
Summary: "Ideals and actions are two different things. Actions are what really counts, but...ideals are normally the cause behind those actions, correct?" [Pre-KSS/U and Revenge of Meta Knight]


Kirby and the beach were a perfect match.

After a day of searching for food, or saving the world, or taking care of a century-old bird's chicks, Kirby liked to have some fun. Or take a nap, but he'd already taken one today in the afternoon. Now that he'd had his dinner, the cherry puff had gone down to the beach to play in the sand and let the waves splash up on him.

He was having quite a bit of fun, until he remembered that it was high tide...as the waves pulled his feet out from under him. Kirby started, suddenly remembering how dangerous—and salty—the ocean was near dark. And nobody was around to help him if he needed...so...

The pink puffball pawed at the sand, only partially succeeding in making his way out of the water. The beach was shallow, but he was such a short creature that every time a wave hit him, he lost his grip. It did help that the waves kept pushing him up, but then they sucked him back out, and he was used to swimming at low tide. Being Kirby, he did eventually climb back out of the waves...but not without a small blow to his pride.

Then again, nobody saw him, so...

...

...Maybe it was nicer to just _observe_ the ocean when it was later in the day, instead of playing in it.

"Hello, Kirby."

The pink puffball forgot about his troubles and turned around upon hearing the voice, as he rarely heard from the person it belonged to. "Hello, Meta Knight! Isn't it so pretty out today?"

"Indeed it is." Meta Knight teleported to appear right next to Kirby on the beach. "There's rarely a climate on Dream Land that isn't."

Kirby couldn't believe his eyes. Was Meta Knight going to hang around long enough to talk with him? He never moved closer to someone unless he was going to speak with them; he thought that it would be rude not to. The pink puff tried to get the other puffball to keep talking with him.

"You like traveling Dream Land, too?"

Meta Knight's stance relaxed ever-so-slightly. "Yes, I do take time to survey the land and hone my skills. I came across what seemed to be the edges of a desert not too long ago, but I had other things to do, so I couldn't explore it fully."

Meta Knight was going to hang around and talk to him...!

He couldn't let such an opportunity to go waste.

Surprisingly enough, the sapphire puffball stayed to talk for a while. Though Meta Knight wasn't the best at small talk, he managed to converse with Kirby as if he was a normal person...normal as he could be, for Meta Knight. The subject of Kirby's recent adventures came up rather quickly, and the pink puffball was more than happy to tell the knight about all his romps and adventures. Quarrels with the king, adventures against Dark Matter, a thank-you for Meta Knight for all the Invincibility Lollipops...and most recently, the time he'd spent with Dyna Blade and her children in the past month or two.

"That was kind of you to take care of Dyna Blade's chicks," Meta Knight commented. "Not many people would do that, and fewer still would survive Dyna Blade's protective instincts."

The pink puffball smiled. "Aw, thanks Meta! But everyone would have helped Dyna Blade with her chicks if they could...well, and if she let them get close enough...I bet they would have, if they'd known!"

"That's rather idealistic, Kirby." The knight's eyes narrowed a bit. "And there's nothing wrong with that, but don't let your ideals wander too far, Kirby. Ideals and actions are two different things. Actions are what really counts, but...ideals are normally the cause behind those actions, correct? And one wrong action could lead to a thousand more behind it, even if the reasoning behind those actions was completely good and innocent."

"Huh?" Kirby frowned. "What do you mean, Meta?"

"I don't appreciate it when people let their ideals lure them into making stupid decisions." Meta Knight was clearly annoyed about this. "One tempting tidbit about bringing profit to a village, or helping the crops grow, or making things so that everyone was able to buy and sell what they wanted, or circumstances being that nobody would have to go hungry or be without shelter...and nobody even questions a villain or a con artist. They don't even consider that people who _do_ try to work hard to improve things have probably already attempted such things."

Then, the sapphire puffball clenched his paws, crossing his arms around himself.

"And then, not only do let themselves be tricked and brainwashed into believing such people will supply them with that idealistic want...they blame those people who are working on those things for not coming up with them sooner."

"What?" Kirby blinked, confused. "But Meta, nobody does that."

"Don't you _understand_ , Kirby?!" The knight whipped around to the only other member of his kin, glaring at him from behind his mask—not that his tone of voice didn't give his anger away. "I—Some people work hard to try and improve things in life. To _improve_ as in make them better; in other words, fulfilling those delusions I mentioned earlier. But nobody cares about the fact that they're trying, because they don't see immediate results. Who on this planet would understand how much time it takes just to get to a simple solution like keeping something from breaking under force or pressure? Nobody would, and nobody will, because they've never experienced it themselves. They've _never_ had to do what we do. What _I_ do!"

"But Meta..." Kirby said quietly, trying to process what his friend was saying. "We _do_ appreciate you—"

" _Really?_ " The icy tone in the puff's voice caused Kirby to shudder. "I see that. I see that it's easier to appreciate someone giving you a _lollipop_ than it is to appreciate that they're pouring their soul and energy into designing advanced weapons to defend their planet. Though I suppose that doesn't matter if you don't succeed right away, hm?"

"No it doesn't! It just matters that you tried!" Kirby protested, trying not to flinch from the bit about the lollipops. "If you're doing all you can, then that's enough for anyone..."

"I highly doubt that, Kirby," Meta Knight murmured. "It doesn't matter how hard you try if you fail to accomplish your goals. I suppose that reasoning is true." Then his angrier demeanor returned. "But you know, that reasoning works well if you're in a crowd of twenty people who've been trying for the same goal...but by the stars, it doesn't work too well if there are only a handful of people on the entire _planet_ who are trying to do something, and _nobody else_ is!"

" _I_ fight to protect this place, Meta!"

"I know that, Kirby! But besides you, who else cares?"

Kirby blinked, his reasoning wavering. Meta Knight seemed a bit guilty at dropping that on the pink puffball, but he still chose to continue.

"Listen, Kirby. I'm not doing this to be mean or cruel. But think about that. How many other people would be willing to do what you do for them?" The sapphire puff crossed his arms. "It takes a lot for most people to be motivated into fighting. I only do it so freely because I really don't have anybody I'm too attached to who would care if I died. To find someone who'd protect their home out of the goodness of their heart...It's difficult. If you have a family you love, the only way you would risk surrending that to death is if your lack of opposition to the enemy meant that your family member may die if you didn't. Nobody's going to take even a _slight_ risk for that."

The two puffs stared at each other in silence, the ocean breeze curling around them. Nothing was said; the only thing heard was the crashing of the waves. The wind caused the ends of Meta Knight's cape to ripple in the breeze, but for Kirby, it only drew some water to the top of his eyes.

The pink puffball was so frustrated...but what could he say to his friend?

 _Nothing._ Meta Knight only made arguments with the intention of winning them; Kirby tried not to make arguments because he didn't like directly disagreeing with someone. It was somewhat the same thing, but the difference was that Kirby was willing to change opinions to whatever others wanted, and Meta Knight would cling to his until he was forcefully, factually shot down, even if he had to hide his.

"So Kirby."

The pink puff blinked away a few of his tears, somewhat surprised that Meta Knight had been the one to break the silence first. Then again, what did he himself have to say?

"Don't underestimate yourself or your intentions compared to theirs. The two of us...We're basically the only ones on this planet who care about it enough to try defending it. They should thank you for what you're doing. As a matter of fact, I'll _make_ them thank you for what you're doing."

"Wh...Huh?" Kirby whimpered. "Meta, what do you mean?"

"I mean that it's time someone appreciated what you've done for this place." The sapphire puffball clenched his paws. "Everybody here is so incredibly, _painfully_ stupid and lazy that they can barely pick their crops and repair their fences. The Waddle Dees are the hardest workers here by far, and they shouldn't have to live in such conditions. They're barely paid outside a meal for doing hard labor for hire. So I'm going to modify things. I'll let Dedede have a royal vacation while I renovate how things run around here. If everyone's so oblivious that it takes drastic action to change their views...I'll _take_ drastic action. At least the work I have won't go to waste."

"But—" Kirby tried desperately to think of something to say. "Meta, we can find a better way—"

 _"How?!"_ The puffball snapped. "Do you have any suggestions? Or do you expect me to think of everything, like they do?"

Kirby tried his best to think of a response, but all he could do was stare at the sapphire puffball with sad eyes. Meta Knight turned away from the pink swordpuff, staring off to the side.

"I wonder now what I was thinking, Kirby..." the knight murmured softly. The pink puff didn't want to pick out the emotion in his voice; it made him sick to his stomach. "Somewhere in my mind, I believed that out of all the people on this...miserable planet, that you'd understand my reasoning." His tone of voice hardened to its usual, emotionless medium. "But now I realize that you're no better than any of the others."

"Metaaa, please...!" Kirby hoped that Meta Knight noticed he was about to cry; maybe the knight would feel guilty. "I don't—I'm just a little upset—why would you say that?"

All he got was a glare.

"If anything, _I_ should be the one who's upset, Kirby," the other puff muttered darkly. "You had the chance to enjoy your life. I never had that chance. I had to be an adult from the time I was six. You don't survive in life if you're stranded on a dead planet full of monsters, with no food and nobody to feed you—and nobody to take care of you, either, I might add. You? You've always had food, and friends, and support. Most everybody on this planet has. I didn't. And there are others here who did not have that luxury, either."

The knight turned back to Kirby.

"Let me ask you this, Kirby: What if, instead of waking up in a happy, sunshine-filled place like this, you woke up in the streets of a space stop out in the middle of complete and total emptiness? What if your only chance at survival was hard work, where you couldn't trust anyone, and everybody was too busy to care about you? Like those people in town—how much do they care about people outside of the fact that they exist?"

Kirby was getting confused at this point, but that definitely wasn't the only negative emotion he was feeling right now.

"Nobody acknowledges how hard we had to work to just get this far. I didn't just sit back doing nothing to get where I am, and I'm certain you had at least _some_ point in your life where you struggled with something. But...most of the non-Dee citizens on this planet think my crew and I are working on endeavors that require little to no effort, just like their jobs. And if they didn't see you fighting on a regular basis, you could almost bet that they would think the same of what _you_ do, too. So why should I spare any sympathy on such _i_ _gnorant creatures?"_

"Because they have feelings," Kirby started. "Even if they don't understand...it doesn't mean that they _can't_ understand, right?"

Meta Knight didn't answer him at first. Either he hadn't anticipated this response, or he was trying to weigh which option was more morally sound. Or both.

"That _is_ true, Kirby...but for that to work, they have to want to understand. And I don't believe that that's possible."

"But _I_ do," Kirby stated clearly, the tears in his eyes dissipating. "Why don't you, Meta?"

The sapphire puffball hesitated for a long while. Then, he turned around, holding his cape in both paws.

"Honestly, Kirby...I'd prefer not to say. But I'm through with this argument. If you decide to change your mind, just search for me. You'll know where to find me. Goodbye, Kirby."

The cherry-colored puffball watched his friend disappear under a shimmering cape, unsure of what to make of the events that had just transpired. Did he risk losing Meta Knight as a friend now? Or...was he just delusional, and would come back? Kirby thought over some of what his friend had said...but then decided to file it in the back of his mind.

Meta Knight likely wouldn't listen to anything he had to say, mainly because he didn't know _what_ to say. The knight did make a lot of points he hadn't thought about.

But Kirby being Kirby...he couldn't give up defending his home, no matter how badly he was treated. He didn't know why...but...maybe Meta Knight didn't know why he thought people hated him, either. If he could figure out why, maybe he could win the argument.

For now, however, Meta Knight was right about one thing-he was done arguing for the night. At least the knight wasn't angry at _him_ ; just his opinions...so hopefully there wouldn't be any disagreements from not resolving this argument. Kirby highly doubted it; Meta Knight hadn't done anything before, so why would he do anything now? He did feel a bit guilty, however...He let Meta Knight walk away thinking that he hated him. That would make approaching him harder.

But he was Kirby, hero of Dream Land. If he could accomplish anything against the odds already...repairing a friendship wouldn't be any problem, right?

* * *

(C/N: No relationship is without its arguments, no matter how good of a friendship you've had. As you can see, neither of them were really wrong, and we obviously know that they make up along the line in the future.

This was completely unedited again; I just felt like writing something and cumulatively spent about five hours on this (INTERRUPTIONS). This is also the first time I've written Kirby and Meta Knight in a story by themselves (excluding GlitterGlitter, since they did not interact). It's such a commonly-loved type of moment among the archive that I had to do one sometime...eeeeven though it didn't fit the stereotypical story with the two interacting. Kirby and Meta Knight rarely get into disagreements in fanfics, and it's almost always (scratch that, always) over Meta Knight being protective of Kirby. Let me tell you, there are a LOT more things to disagree with your friends and loved ones over than that (even though that's...kinda similar to what he's doing here). Trusts; I'm sure you know this yourself.

Also, a good part of this is due to the fact that I knowingly entered into a job where, though it's really great and I love it, many people cast blame or portray us as evil, hence Meta's opinions. It's just my way of taking that out thus, this isn't a full picture of Meta's point of view as I wrote this as stress relief.)

Cover by Metanaito-kyou again! Go check out their work on here and dA!


End file.
